Barack Obama spreads his money wide; John McCain must pick his fights

Imprecise though they may be, campaign finance reports offer a road map to the battlefield.

Republicans are moving money to Nevada, Colorado, Pennsylvania and Florida -- and taking it out of New Mexico, where George Bush won four years ago, a close look at the latest campaign finance disclosures filed with the Federal Election Commission in the past 24 hours shows.

Barack Obama and the Democratic National Committee are sending millions to those states and several more.  They money is being used for getting out the vote in the final push leading up to election day.

In another indication of Obama’s money advantage over John McCain, he and the DNC transferred $23.4 million to state Democratic parties, including several in states that McCain must hold in order to win.

The Republican National Committee transferred $11.3 million, though it was bolstered by transfers from a few other state parties.

McCain, limited to spending no more than the federal grant of $84 million, apparently did not use it to shift money to state parties in the first part of October.

The reports covering the first 15 days of October show that the GOP is taking money out of New Mexico -- a state that it had hoped to hold, after George Bush won a narrow victory there four years ago.

The New Mexico Republican Party shifted $250,000 to its Nevada counterpart, while the Republican National Committee sent the $1.2 million to the Silver State.

California’s Republican Party also transferred $1 million over the Donner Summit to Nevada, according to state party spokesman Hector Barajas, who was in Nevada helping with the campaign to hold five electoral votes for McCain.

Obama and the DNC sent $900,000 to Nevada, and organized labor was making a major push to get out the vote there.

The RNC also sent $1.13 million to Colorado hoping to hang on to its nine electoral votes. California’s GOP sent $2 million to the Rocky Mountain State.

Obama and the DNC sent $1.4 million to Colorado in the first 15 days of the month.

Obama and the DNC also underscored the Democratic desire to wrest Wisconsin, sending $2.1 million to that state’s Democratic Party. Another $2.5 million went to the Ohio Democratic Party.

Florida and Pennsylvania, of course, remain centers for spending.

The DNC and Obama transferred $4 million to the Sunshine State while the RNC sent $3.2 million there in the first 15 days of the month. Then there is Pennsylvania. The RNC moved $1.5 million there, to the Democrats' $2 million.

-- Dan Morain

Photo credit: Alex Brandon/AP

Comments

[BJ]

FRAUD has just been committed in Ohio. So far 18 Democrats voted for OBAMA that were NOT ELIGIBLE based on residency. Even an Obama campaign worker fraudulently voted.

One of the 18 is a student from STANFORD UNIVERSITY, who travelled all the way to Ohio, to vote for Obama!

This is disgusting... OBAMA WILL BUY OR STEAL THIS ELECTION!

[Oh yeah?]

BJ: Proof please: independent verification that doesn't come from some tinfoil-hat wearing right-wing muckspreader.

[Stephen]

There is virtually no evidence – anywhere in the country, going back many elections – of people showing up at the polls and voting when they are not entitled to. Only 38 cases of individual voter fraud have been litigated between 2002 and 2005 – suggesting that this Republican complaint is more bluster than anything else. Republicans are exaggerating the issue to keep people who tend to vote Democrat from casting ballots. Real voter fraud has indeed occurred. The G.O.P. and its supporters disenfranchised American citizens, who have every right to cast a ballot, in the 2000 and 2004 Votergate.

In Montana, the Republican Party challenged the registrations of thousands of legitimate voters based on change-of-address information available from the Post Office in Democratic districts. Vote suppression and deception: Shortages of voting locations and ballot forms. Foreign monitors barred from polls. Unmatched exit polls/actual results – actual results always skewed to Republicans. Masses of e-Voting ‘glitches.’ Computers lost Kerry votes. Presidential votes ‘miscast’ on e-Voting machines throughout the US. More recorded votes than voters. Republicans gained 128.45% in Florida counties using optical scan voting machines while Democrats lost 21% - some districts showed gains of over 400% while one, Liberty County, gained over 700% for Republicans. Warren County officials locked down the county administration building on election night and blocked anyone from observing the vote count as the nation awaited Ohio's returns. Bush had ‘incredible’ vote tallies. 7% turnout reported in Cleveland precinct. In Cuyahoga County different towns had the exact same number of ‘extra’ votes. And on, and on… Past is Prologue.

http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/2004votefraud.html

[Guitarman]

BJ, BJ, BJ. Where do we start? Are you truly so gullible that you believe this tripe? You need to stop listening to conspiracy radio and stop spewing information you can't possibly validate. And blaming Obama for someone voting fraudulently is like blaming McCain for his campaign worker scraping a 'B' onto her face and blaming a black Obama supporter for it. Of course we know it's a big racist lie. But you don't want to focus on that, do you? No. It wouldn't make sense to your little hillbilly head. Is it ok for a little racism in the McCain campaign? McCain is trying to turn this into a racist campaign, people like you are just fanning the flames of racism by suggesting Obama will 'steal' this election. You know blacks steal all the time, so why not an election? I hope you manage to get some mental health treatments after Obama is elected in a landslide. I'm giving him my vote. That's right. He won't need to steal my vote. Good luck in the future, BJ. My guess is you have some pretty rough days ahead. Get help, please.